page_title: Colgan Air
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Colgan Air / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Colgan Air Saab 340B (N203CJ) at Washington Dulles International Airport
context_page_description: Colgan Air was an American certificated regional airline subsidiary of Pinnacle Airlines Corp. The headquarters of Colgan Air were located in Memphis, Tennessee.
  Colgan Air operated for Continental Express/United Express, and US Airways Express before it became defunct. Pinnacle Airlines Corporation phased out the Colgan Air name on September 5, 2012, and transferred personnel and logistics to Pinnacle Airlines.
context_section_description: Charles J. Colgan founded  fixed-base operator Colgan Airways Corporation at Manassas Airport in 1965. It began scheduled service under contract with IBM in 1970 between Manassas, Virginia, near Washington, D.C., and Dutchess County Airport near Poughkeepsie, New York. In 1986 Colgan Air received its first airline contract with New York Air operating as New York Air Connection with Beechcraft Model 99's, Beech 1900C's, and Shorts 330's. New York Air was merged into Continental Airlines on February 1, 1987 at which time Colgan became a Continental Express feeder carrier. It later sold to Presidential Airways which was also a Continental Express operator.
  After Presidential went defunct in 1989, Colgan and his son, Michael J., restarted service under the name National Capital on a Washington-Dulles to Binghamton, NY route on December 1, 1991. Service was provided with Beechcraft 1900C equipment. .This route was later dropped and the name Colgan Air adopted. On July 1, 1997 Colgan became a feeder for Continental Airlines once again, this time operating under the name Continental Connection.
  On December 11, 1999, Colgan left the Continental system and became exclusively a US Airways Express carrier, focusing its routes around major US Airways stations such as LaGuardia, Pittsburgh, and Boston. However, in 2005 Colgan acquired additional Saab 340 aircraft and resumed service as Continental Connection out of Houston.
  On October 4, 2005, Colgan Air started providing flights for United Express flights out of Washington's Dulles International Airport. Initially serving Charleston, West Virginia, and Westchester County Airport in White Plains, New York, Colgan expanded its United Express service to include State College, Pennsylvania; Charlottesville, Virginia; Allentown, Pennsylvania; and Binghamton, New York.
  Colgan Air was acquired by Pinnacle Airlines Corporation on January 18, 2007, for US$20 million. Under the terms of the purchase, Colgan's regional aircraft fleet continued to operate independently of Pinnacle Airlines Corporation's major subsidiary, Pinnacle Airlines, whose all regional jet fleet continued to fly and operate in the livery of Northwest Airlink. It was a strategic move by Pinnacle to get access to Colgan’s partners, Continental Airlines, United Airlines and US Airways.
  Colgan Air began providing service out of Newark Liberty International Airport (as Continental Connection) starting in early 2008.
  Colgan's headquarters moved from Manassas, VA to Pinnacle's headquarters in Memphis, TN in December 2009.
  In July 2010, Pinnacle Airlines Corporation announced that the Colgan Air name would be phased out and all Pinnacle Airlines Corporation propeller flights would be operated by Mesaba Airlines. Colgan operated for two more years before winding down operations in 2012.
  On May 15, 2012, Colgan Air ceased flying for US Airways Express. On June 5, flying in and out of the Houston (IAH) hub for United Express ceased. Colgan had previously operated as Continental Connection from IAH with Saab 340 aircraft prior to Continental-United merger. On July 31, Colgan Air phased out operations to Saab 340 fleet.
  The last revenue flight, Colgan Air doing business as United Express Flight 3923 from Washington-Dulles to Albany, NY, was on September 5.
  The remaining Q400s on order were delivered to Republic Airways. The Q400s were phased out of service between September 2014 and September 2016.
caption: Saab 340B in Colgan Air livery at Washington-Dulles International Airport
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